Dortmund, Essen, Bielefeld, Bonn, 16. März 2026. Das menschliche Darmmikrobiom ist so individuell wie ein Fingerabdruck. Bei chronisch-entzündlichen Darmerkrankungen (CED) wie Morbus Crohn oder Colitis ulcerosa spielt es eine zentrale Rolle. Doch sein Potenzial zur Diagnostik und personalisierten Therapie für Patient:innen bleibt bisher ungenutzt. Das Forschungsprojekt MikrobiomProCheck soll dies ändern. Dafür erhalten das Leibniz-Institut für Analytische Wissenschaften – ISAS – e. V., die Universitäten Bonn, Bielefeld und Duisburg-Essen, die Biofidus AG sowie die Lead Discovery Center GmbH rund 3,4 Millionen Euro von der NRW-Landesregierung und der Europäischen Union.

Trotz Fortschritten bei der Behandlung von CED sprechen Patient:innen unterschiedlich gut auf die Therapie an. Die Mehrheit der Betroffenen leidet lebenslang an der Erkrankung. Die Folgen sind unter anderem eine hohe Zahl von Krankenhausaufenthalten und ein erhöhtes Risiko für Darmkrebs. Entscheidend für CED ist neben genetischen Ursachen und Umweltfaktoren das Darmmikrobiom. Dieses ist für die Verdauung und Verwertung von Nährstoffen wichtig und unterstützt die Entwicklung von Immunzellen. Bei CED gerät das Darmmikrobiom aus dem Gleichgewicht. Daher liegt genau bei diesen Billionen von Organismen im Darm der Schlüssel für neue, maßgeschneiderte Therapien. „Um mehr über die vielfältige Rolle des Mikrobioms bei chronisch-entzündlichen Darmerkrankungen zu erfahren und diese Erkenntnisse für neue Behandlungen zur Verfügung zu stellen, analysieren wir mittels künstlicher Intelligenz (KI) Daten zu Genen, Metaboliten und Proteinen aus dem Darmmikrobiom“, erläutert Prof. Dr. Robert Heyer, Leiter der ISAS-Forschungsgruppe Mehrdimensionale Omics-Datenanalyse und Professor für Bioinformatik an der Universität Bielefeld. Er koordiniert das Konsortium MikrobiomProCheck.

Neue maßgeschneiderte Therapien – von zuhause aus

Basierend auf den molekularen Daten entwickeln die Forschenden Computermodelle, die Aufschluss über die Krankheitsmechanismen bei CED und damit wertvolle Hinweise für neue Behandlungsstrategien geben. Mit dem Forschungsprojekt verbunden ist auch der Aufbau einer digitalen Infrastruktur: Eine neue Datenbank soll ein Wirkstoff-Mikrobiom-Screening ermöglichen, um die Arzneimittel und Ernährungsprotokolle gezielt an das individuelle Darmmikrobiom der Erkrankten anzupassen und Therapie-Vorhersagen zu treffen.

Sowohl der Krankheitsverlauf als auch die Therapie sollen sich später idealerweise ohne Darmspiegelungen kontrollieren lassen. Patient:innen könnten dafür Stuhlproben zuhause entnehmen. Dies wäre nicht nur in ländlichen Regionen mit wenigen Arztpraxen von Vorteil, sondern würde auch insgesamt Arztbesuche reduzieren und das Gesundheitssystem entlasten.

NRW-weite Kooperation: Forschung trifft auf Biotech

MikrobiomProCheck ist ein in NRW breit aufgestelltes interdisziplinäres Forschungs-projekt: Das Universitätsklinikum Essen (UK Essen: Prof. Dr. Claudia Veltkamp) sowie das Evangelische Klinikum Bethel – Universitätsklinikum OWL der Universität Bielefeld (Prof. Dr. Eckard Hamelmann, Dr. Patricia Maasjosthusmann) betreuen beispielsweise die Studie mit zehn jungen und 100 erwachsenen CED-Patient:innen sowie genauso vielen gesunden Proband:innen. Die Biofidus AG und das ISAS (Prof. Dr. Albert Sickmann) führen die molekularen Untersuchungen der Stuhlproben durch. Die Analyse der Wechselwirkungen zwischen Mikrobiom und Immunsystem erfolgt am UK Essen (Prof. Dr. Astrid Westendorf, Dr. Alexandra Mekes-Adamczyk). Die Lead Discovery Center GmbH entwickelt ein Screening-Verfahren, um die Wechselwirkungen zwischen therapeutischen Wirkstoffen und dem Darmmikrobiom zu untersuchen. Das ISAS (Prof. Dr. Robert Heyer), die Universitäten Bonn (Prof. Dr. Martin Hofmann-Apitius, Prof. Dr. Marie-Christine Simon, Dr. Alpha Tom Kodamullil) und Bielefeld (Prof. Dr. Alexander Sczyrba, Dr. Tobias Busche) widmen sich gemeinsam den KI-basierten Mikrobiom-Analysen und sind für den Aufbau der digitalen Infrastruktur verantwortlich.

MikrobiomProCheck ist im Januar 2026 gestartet. Die NRW-Landesregierung und Europäische Union fördern das Projekt mit ca. 3,37 Mio. Euro, verteilt auf drei Jahre.

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Über ISAS

Das Leibniz-Institut für Analytische Wissenschaften – ISAS – e.V. – entwickelt leistungsfähige Analyseverfahren für die Gesundheitsforschung. Mit seinen Innovationen trägt es dazu bei, die Prävention, Frühdiagnose und Therapie von beispielsweise Herz-Kreislauf-Erkrankungen zu verbessern. Ziel des Forschungsinstituts ist es, die personalisierte Therapie voranzutreiben. Dafür kombiniert das ISAS das Wissen aus Chemie, Biologie, Medizin, Pharmakologie, Physik und Informatik. Das Dortmunder Institut kooperiert mit nationalen und internationalen Partnern aus der Wissenschaft und Industrie.

www.isas.de

Über Universität Bonn

Die Universität Bonn ist mit acht Clustern die erfolgreichste der deutschen Exzellenzuniversitäten. Sie zählt mit rund 30.000 Studierenden, 6.000 Promovierenden, 750 Professuren und 6.500 Beschäftigten zu den größten und forschungsstärksten Universitäten in Deutschland. International wird sie regelmäßig unter die Top 100-Universitäten weltweit gerankt. Sie hat bereits zwei Nobelpreisträger hervorgebracht und ist die einzige deutsche Universität, an der zwei Fields Medaillisten arbeiten. Das Fächerspektrum in ihren sieben Fakultäten reicht von den Agrarwissenschaften bis zur Zahnmedizin. Neben ihrer Zugehörigkeit zu starken Disziplinen forschen die Wissenschaftlerinnen und Wissenschaftler der Universität Bonn in sechs „Transdisziplinären Forschungsbereichen“ fakultäts- und fächerübergreifend an Lösungen zu den großen gesellschaftlichen Herausforderungen. Pro Jahr werben sie rund 205 Mio. Euro an Drittmitteln für die Forschung ein.

www.uni-bonn.de

Über Universität Bielefeld

Die Universität Bielefeld wurde im Jahr 1969 mit explizitem Forschungsauftrag und hohem Anspruch an die Qualität einer forschungsorientierten Lehre gegründet. Mit ca. 24.500 Studierenden umfasst sie heute 14 Fakultäten. Als Volluniversität bietet sie ein differenziertes Fächerspektrum in den Geistes-, Natur- und Technikwissenschaften sowie in der Medizin.

www.uni-bielefeld.de

Über Universitätsmedizin Essen

Die Essener Universitätsmedizin umfasst das Universitätsklinikum Essen sowie 15 Tochterunternehmen, darunter die Ruhrlandklinik, das St. Josef Krankenhaus Werden, die Herzchirurgie Huttrop und das Westdeutsche Protonentherapiezentrum Essen. Die Essener Universitätsmedizin ist mit etwa 1.700 Betten und rund 11.000 Mitarbeitenden das führende Gesundheits-Kompetenzzentrum des Ruhrgebiets. Mit dem Westdeutschen Tumorzentrum, einem der größten Tumorzentren Deutschlands, dem Westdeutschen Zentrum für Organtransplantation, einem international führenden Zentrum für Transplantation, in dem unsere Spezialisten mit Leber, Niere, Bauchspeicheldrüse, Herz und Lunge alle lebenswichtigen Organe verpflanzen, sowie dem Westdeutschen Herz- und Gefäßzentrum, einem überregionalen Zentrum der kardiovaskulären Maximalversorgung, hat die Universitätsmedizin Essen eine weit über die Region reichende Bedeutung für die Versorgung von Patientinnen und Patienten. Wesentliche Grundlage für die klinische Leistungsfähigkeit ist die Forschung an der Medizinischen Fakultät der Universität Duisburg-Essen mit ihrer Schwerpunktsetzung in Onkologie, Transplantation, Herz-Gefäß-Medizin, Immunologie/Infektiologie und Translationale Neuro- und Verhaltenswissenschaften.

www.ume.de

Über Biofidus AG

Die Biofidus AG mit Hauptsitz in Bielefeld ist ein führender Anbieter von struktureller und funktioneller Charakterisierung von Biopharmazeutika. Dr. Benjamin Müller und ein Team erfahrener Wissenschaftler gründeten das Unternehmen im Jahr 2015. Angetrieben von einem tiefen Verständnis für Markttrends, einschließlich der wachsenden Vorliebe für ausgelagerte Analytik, wurde Biofidus gegründet, um umfassende analytische Dienstleistungen für die pharmazeutische Industrie anzubieten. Mit einem Team von 30 interdisziplinären Experten hat sich Biofidus als zuverlässiger und sachkundiger Partner positioniert, der Unternehmen von Start-ups bis hin zu Big Pharma begleitet. Mit einem breiten Spektrum an fortschrittlichen analytischen Methoden für die strukturelle und funktionelle Charakterisierung von Proteinen und Gentherapeutika ist Biofidus bestrebt, die Entwicklung innovativer Biologika und Biosimilars von der frühen Entwicklung bis zur präklinischen Phase zu unterstützen.

www.biofidus.de

Über Lead Discovery Center GmbH

Lead Discovery Center GmbH (LDC) ist ein translationales Forschungsunternehmen, welches exzellente Grundlagenforschung in die Entwicklung neuer, dringend benötigter Medikamente überführt. LDC nimmt vielversprechende Projekte aus der akademischen Forschung auf und entwickelt sie typischerweise weiter bis zu pharmazeutischen Leitstrukturen oder präklinischen Kandidaten. In enger Zusammenarbeit mit führenden Partnern aus der akademischen Forschung und Industrie entwickelt LDC ein umfangreiches Portfolio an Projekten im Bereich niedermolekularer Wirkstoffe sowie therapeutische Antikörper mit außergewöhnlich hohem medizinischem und kommerziellem Potenzial.

LDC unterhält eine enge Partnerschaft mit der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft und dem KHAN Technology Transfer Fund (KHAN-I/-II). Es hat weltweit zahlreiche Kooperationen mit verschiedenen Organisationen geschlossen, u.a. AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Merck KGaA, Daiichi Sankyo, Qurient, invIOs, Novo Nordisk, Cumulus Oncology, Nodus Oncology, JT Pharmaceuticals, KinSea Lead Discovery, KyDo Therapeutics, HLB Life Science. LDC arbeitet außerdem mit führenden akademischen Wirkstoffforschungszentren und Investoren zusammen, um Firmengründungen zu unterstützen.

www.lead-discovery.de

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E-mail: pr@lead-discovery.de

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Dortmund/Seoul, January 15th, 2026 – QLi5 Therapeutics GmbH (QLi5) announced today the successful completion of a capital increase totaling approximately 6.26 million Euro. This strategic investment, significantly backed by the Korean biotech company Qurient and by QLi5 co-founder and Nobel laureate Prof. Dr. Robert Huber, is intended to decisively advance the development of QLi5’s pioneering Proteasome Inhibitor (PI)-based Antibody-Drug Conjugate (ADC) platform.

Details on Capital Increase and Strategic Alignment

During a General Meeting held on December 18th, 2025, QLi5 resolved to implement a capital increase totaling 6.26 million Euro. Qurient’s participation substantially increases the company’s voting stake in QLi5. Particularly noteworthy is the continued participation of Prof. Dr. Robert Huber, co-founder of QLi5 and 1988 Nobel laureate in Chemistry, which underscores his deep confidence in QLi5’s technological expertise and future potential.

The new funds will be specifically used to advance the development of the PI-payload technology. This next-generation ADC platform represents a promising new alternative that aims to overcome the limitations of existing ADC therapeutics.

Impressive Preclinical Results and Universal Potential

In October 2025, QLi5 and Qurient presented compelling preclinical research results for PI-payload-based ADCs at the international conference “AACR-NCI-EORTC 2025” in Boston. These garnered significant interest from experts and the pharmaceutical industry. The presentation demonstrated that the PI-payload, as a novel mechanism of action, showed excellent anti-cancer efficacy in animal models that were resistant to conventional TOP1-inhibitor-based ADCs, such as Enhertu. The potential as a “universal payload” was also confirmed, as its efficacy is not limited to specific cancer cell types but could be demonstrated across various cell types and target models.

A Strong Joint Venture with an Excellent Scientific Foundation

QLi5 Therapeutics was founded as a joint venture by Qurient in collaboration with Lead Discovery Center GmbH (LDC), Max Planck Society (MPG), and Prof. Dr. Robert Huber. Prof. Dr. Huber, a renowned structural biologist, received his Nobel Prize in Chemistry for being the first to decipher the three-dimensional structure of the proteasome, a cellular proteolytic apparatus. Building on his findings and the subsequent drug discovery work by LDC, QLi5 has developed a next-generation therapeutic approach that drastically reduces the side effects of previous proteasome inhibitors and can extend its spectrum of application to various cancer types.

Kiyean Nam, CEO of Qurient, commented: “This capital increase is far more than mere financing; it is a strategic decision to fully unlock the enormous potential of QLi5’s PI-mechanism technology as a next-generation ADC payload. With the continued support of Prof. Dr. Robert Huber and the strong network of LDC and MPG, we will accelerate development to become a gamechanger in the global ADC market.”

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About Lead Discovery Center

Lead Discovery Center GmbH (LDC) was established in 2008 by the technology transfer organization Max Planck Innovation, as a novel approach to capitalize on the potential of excellent basic research for the discovery of new therapies for diseases with high medical need. LDC takes on promising early-stage projects from academia and transforms them into innovative pharmaceutical leads and antibodies that reach initial proof-of-concept in animals as well as candidate nomination. In close collaboration with high-profile partners from research and industry, LDC is building a strong and growing portfolio of small molecule and antibody leads with exceptional medical and commercial potential.

LDC sustains a long-term partnership with the Max Planck Society and its institutes as well as with KHAN Technology Transfer Fund, and has formed numerous alliances with pharma and biotech companies, in particular with JT Pharmaceuticals (now: Shionogi) as well as AstraZeneca, Bayer, Merck KGaA, Qurient, InvIOS, Cumulus Oncology, Nodus Oncology, KinSea Lead Discovery, HLB Life Science R&D, KyDo Therapeutics and the Helmholtz Center for Infection Research, e.g. In addition, LDC also works with leading translational drug discovery centers and in addition to a preferred partnership with KHAN with various investors to provide its assets for company creation.

Further information at: www.lead-discovery.de

About Qurient

Qurient Co., Ltd. is a clinical-stage biotechnology company headquartered in South Korea and listed on the Korea Exchange (KRX: 115180). The company is focused on developing innovative medicines and targeted therapies across oncology and infectious diseases.

Further information at: www.qurient.com

About QLi5 Therapeutics

QLi5 was founded in 2019 as a joint venture of Qurient Co. Ltd, Korea, Max Planck Society, Germany, LDC, Germany, Nobel laureate Prof. Dr. Robert Huber, emeritus director of the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry, Germany. The company has previously secured funding from a renowned group of investors, KHAN Technology Transfer Fund among others.

Further information at: www.qli5tx.com

About KHAN Technology Transfer Fund

KHAN Technology Transfer Fund (KHAN) is an early-stage life sciences venture fund, supported by its limited partners, European Investment Fund (EIF), Luxembourg, Max-Planck Foundation, Germany, Thyssen’sche Handelsgesellschaft, Germany, Austrian Wirtschaftsservice, Austria and Akros Pharma, USA. Its mission is to create value through cooperative drug development partnerships with academic innovators in Europe. KHAN focuses on first-in-class therapies for attractive markets with a high unmet medical need. KHAN has unique access to cutting-edge scientific research at Max Planck and leading European academia. KHAN is managed by Khanu Fondsverwaltung GmbH, a world class drug discovery and fund team, having access to the state-of-the-art drug discovery incubator Lead Discovery Center GmbH, achieving an exceptional low attrition rate and effective investments.

Further information at: www.khanu.de

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Contact:

Lead Discovery Center GmbH

E-mail: pr@lead-discovery.de

See also: Qurient source press release

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Tokyo, Japan, Basking Ridge, NJ and Dortmund, Germany – (July 11, 2017) – Daiichi Sankyo Co., Limited (hereafter, Daiichi Sankyo), Max Planck Innovation GmbH and the Lead Discovery Center GmbH have signed an agreement providing Daiichi Sankyo with the option to receive the exclusive rights to a new lead compound for the treatment of cancer to be discovered and developed at the Lead Discovery Center.

This new partnership builds on biology insights in the field of transcriptional regulation from the work of Prof. Matthias Geyer at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology in Dortmund and the Research Center caesar (Center of Advanced European Studies and Research) in Bonn, Germany. Combined with the Lead Discovery Center’s strong drug discovery expertise in the design of highly selective kinase inhibitors, Daiichi Sankyo, Max Planck researchers and the Lead Discovery Center will now closely cooperate to further optimize these novel compounds that target cancer cell transcription and proliferation.

Daiichi Sankyo together with the Max Planck Society, supported by Max Planck Foundation, will jointly fund the respective drug discovery efforts at the Lead Discovery Center. Once the project has achieved proof-of-concept in relevant in vivo models, Daiichi Sankyo has the exclusive rights to license the program at pre-defined terms for subsequent preclinical and clinical development. The agreement includes an upfront payment as well as development and sales milestones plus royalties. The licensing revenues will be shared between Max Planck Society, the Lead Discovery Center and all contributing researchers and institutions

“The Lead Discovery Center is our prime partner for innovative drug discovery projects and developing novel compounds with a high therapeutic potential from the Max Planck Institutes. This agreement with Daiichi Sankyo, a recognized leader in the development and supply of innovative pharmaceutical products, again shows the high quality of research projects driven at the Max Planck laboratories. Moreover, the agreement is a great opportunity to advance the research findings into pharmaceutical development, providing potential new treatment options for patients with cancer,” according to Dr. Matthias Stein-Gerlach, patent and licensing manager at Max Planck Innovation, Max Planck Society´s technology transfer organization.

“This project collaboration and option agreement is building on the excellent experiences that Daiichi Sankyo and the Lead Discovery Center previously made from a discovery alliance that started in 2014, as well as close ties and many interactions between Daiichi Sankyo and the Max Planck Society, such as the collaboration with the Axel Ullrich lab. Max Planck Innovation has been instrumental to close this partnership,” adds Dr. Bert Klebl, Managing Director and CSO at the Lead Discovery Center.

“It is a great pleasure for us to start this research collaboration with Max Planck Innovation and the Lead Discovery Center to further generate innovation for our cancer drug discovery efforts,” said Antoine Yver, MD, MSc, Executive Vice President and Global Head of Oncology Research and Development, Daiichi Sankyo. “We are excited about the integration of Max Planck Society’s high quality science and the Lead Discovery Center’s expertise in lead discovery into Daiichi Sankyo’s drug research and development platform.”
Daiichi Sankyo, the Lead Discovery Center and the Max Planck Society aim to further expand their collaboration into additional programs in the future.

About Max Planck Innovation
Max Planck Innovation is responsible for the technology transfer of the Max Planck Society and, as such, serves as a link between industry and basic research. With its interdisciplinary team it advises and supports scientists in evaluating their inventions, filing patents, and founding companies. Max Planck Innovation offers the industry unique access to the innovations of the Max Planck Institutes, and therefore performs an important task: the transfer of basic research results into products, which contributes to economic and social progress.

For more information, please visit: www.max-planck-innovation.de

About Daiichi Sankyo Cancer Enterprise
The vision of Daiichi Sankyo Cancer Enterprise is to leverage our world-class, innovative science and push beyond traditional thinking in order to create meaningful treatments for patients with cancer. We are dedicated to transforming science into value for patients, and this sense of obligation informs everything we do. Anchored by our Antibody Drug Conjugate (ADC) and Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) Franchises, our cancer pipeline includes more than 20 small molecules, monoclonal antibodies and ADCs stemming from our powerful research engines: our two laboratories for biologic/immuno-oncology and small molecules in Japan, and Plexxikon Inc., our small molecule structure-guided R&D center in Berkeley, CA.

For more information, please visit: www.DSCancerEnterprise.com

About Daiichi Sankyo
Daiichi Sankyo Group is dedicated to the creation and supply of innovative pharmaceutical products to address diversified, unmet medical needs of patients in both mature and emerging markets. With over 100 years of scientific expertise and a presence in more than 20 countries, Daiichi Sankyo and its 15,000 employees around the world draw upon a rich legacy of innovation and a robust pipeline of promising new medicines to help people. In addition to a strong portfolio of medicines for hypertension and thrombotic disorders, under the Group’s 2025 Vision to become a “Global Pharma Innovator with a Competitive Advantage in Oncology,” Daiichi Sankyo research and development is primarily focused on bringing forth novel therapies in oncology, including immuno-oncology, with additional focus on new horizon areas, such as pain management, neurodegenerative diseases, heart and kidney diseases, and other rare diseases. For more information, please visit: www.daiichisankyo.com.  Daiichi Sankyo, Inc. headquartered in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, is a member of the Daiichi Sankyo Group.

For more information, please visit: www.dsi.com

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Dortmund, Germany and Prague, Czech Republic, April 11, 2017 – The Lead Discovery Center GmbH (LDC), Max Planck Innovation GmbH (MI) and SOTIO a.s. have signed a collaboration and license agreement providing SOTIO with exclusive rights to an oncology program addressing a novel target in tumor metabolism. It was discovered at the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing and jointly advanced by the LDC and Max Planck scientists into drug discovery.
Under the terms of the agreement, the LDC and its academic partners will perform further lead optimization and identify corresponding biomarkers for the program in collaboration with SOTIO. Upon nomination of a pre-clinical candidate, SOTIO will be responsible for the preclinical and clinical development as well as subsequent marketing and commercialization.
The LDC is eligible to receive research funding from SOTIO as well as upfront, development and sales milestone payments plus royalties on net sales of the product. Any revenues received by the LDC will be shared with the academic inventors, the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing and the Max Planck Society. Financial details were not disclosed.
“We are excited to collaborate with SOTIO”, said Dr Bert Klebl, CEO of the LDC. “The team at SOTIO combines strong, global development expertise with the dynamic spirit of a mid-sized innovation leader. This makes them an ideal partner for translating the results of our collaborative efforts with the Max Planck team into novel therapies. Together we have investigated and developed a completely new molecular mechanism for the potential future therapy of cancer patients. With SOTIO on board, we are perfectly positioned to progress this new drug candidate to patients as fast as possible.”

Ladislav Bartonicek, CEO of SOTIO said, “Targeting cancer metabolism is a highly attractive and innovative approach for the treatment of cancer. Based on the world-class research at Max Planck, the team at LDC has generated very interesting lead candidates on this first-in-class cancer metabolism program with a promising safety and efficacy profile. We very much look forward to our collaboration with Max Planck and the LDC.”

About SOTIO

SOTIO is an international biotechnology company leading the efforts of PPF Group to build a diverse biotechnology portfolio through its own research & development, collaborations, in-licensing, investments, mergers and acquisitions. The company is developing new medical therapies, focusing on the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases. The most advanced project is its proprietary platform of active cellular immunotherapy (ACI) based on dendritic cells. SOTIO is conducting multiple Phase I to Phase III clinical trials verifying the safety and efficacy of its DCVAC products. SOTIO is also collaborating with NBE Therapeutics on the development of novel antibody-drug conjugate products (ADC) and with Cytune Pharma on developing novel IL15-based immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer. SOTIO has facilities in Europe, the United States, China and Russia.

Further information at: www.sotio.com

Contact

Richard Kapsa
Head of Communications
T. +420 603 280 971
E. kapsa@sotio.com
SOTIO a.s.
Jankovcova 1518/2
170 00 Prague
Czech Republic

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First project from Arix’s agreement with LDC

LONDON, 20 MARCH 2017: Arix Bioscience plc (LSE:ARIX) (“Arix Bioscience” or “the Company”), a global healthcare and life science company supporting medical innovation, has signed an agreement with the Lead Discovery Center GmbH (LDC), Max Planck Innovation GmbH (MI), and the University of Leeds to develop new therapeutics for metabolic diseases based on the discoveries from these organisations.

Under the terms of the agreement, Arix Bioscience will fund and manage experimental work that builds on fundamental discoveries from the faculty of cardiovascular medicine and diabetes at the University of Leeds and LDC, focusing on the development of antagonists of a novel target for a variety of metabolic indications.

LDC, established by Max Planck Innovation and the Max Planck Society to capitalise on the potential of research from Max Planck Institutes, takes basic pathobiology or novel targets from academia and uses its integrated drug discovery platform to produce new candidate therapies for development.

This collaboration originated from a strategic agreement signed between Arix Bioscience and LDC in 2016, under which the LDC shares pipeline projects with Arix Bioscience. This is the first project to arise from this agreement.

Joe Anderson, Chief Executive Officer of Arix Bioscience, commented: “Arix Bioscience aims to identify the best innovation in healthcare and life science and to use our permanent capital approach and strategic insight to support scientific teams in converting this innovation into proprietary development projects.

“We recently raised £100m in an initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange from a range of high quality investors who are supportive of our strategy and enthusiastic about our pipeline. We believe the combination of capital and strategic guidance we can offer can have a transformative impact on early-stage scientific discovery.”

“This collaboration with LDC and the University of Leeds on metabolic projects is the first fruit of Arix’s partnership with the Lead Discovery Center and Max Planck Innovation GmbH, which demonstrates our ability to convert our high-quality relationships into tangible projects based on academic scientific excellence with long-term commercial potential.”

For more information, please contact:

Arix Bioscience PLC
Joe Anderson, CEO
+44 (0) 20 7290 1052

Consilium Strategic Communications
Mary-Jane Elliott, Jessica Hodgson, Ivar Milligan
+44 (0)20 3709 5700
arix@consilium-comms.com

About Arix Bioscience plc
Arix Bioscience plc is a global healthcare and life science company supporting medical innovation. Headquartered in London and with an office in New York, Arix Bioscience sources, finances and builds world class healthcare and life science businesses addressing medical innovation at all stages of development. Operations are supported by privileged access to breakthrough academic science and strategic relationships with leading research accelerators and global pharmaceutical companies.
Arix Bioscience plc is listed on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange.
For further information, please visit www.arixbioscience.com

About the University of Leeds
The University of Leeds has a long-standing history of working with entrepreneurs and venture firms to take innovative technologies discovered within its academic faculties through into commercialisation. The University has a strong track record in commercialisation with over 100 spin-out companies created since 1995 – the second highest number of any UK university – including 34 currently active and seven of which are market listed.

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